


Seeing is Believing

by kitausu



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Awkward Flirting, Dorks in Love, First Meetings, Flirting, Fluff, Gyms, M/M, Meet-Cute, Misunderstandings, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-22
Updated: 2017-09-22
Packaged: 2019-01-03 22:45:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,287
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12156327
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kitausu/pseuds/kitausu
Summary: Hunk goes to a new gym and falls for a guy who glares at dumbbells





	Seeing is Believing

**Author's Note:**

> Tbh, Keith is me in this. 
> 
> I'm just super stressed out and needed some soft fluff in my life.

When Hunk entered the new gym for the first time, his eyes wandered immediately over the clean lines of equipment filling the room. Three people were moving about, a guy running sprints on the treadmill, a lean girl squatting at the Smith machine and…a guy glaring at him through the mirror at the free weights.

Hunk looked around and behind him, expecting someone else to be standing there, but it was just him, and the guy continued glaring, narrowing his eyes even further as he watched Hunk carefully place his things in one of the available cubbies and grab a complimentary towel.

Finally, the guy shook himself and looked away, back to the dumbbells in his hands as he laid back down on the bench and started to press them up and away from him into the air.

It was only curiosity that made Hunk pick a treadmill facing the guy, his body moving on autopilot as he started to warm up with a light jog.

The guy was gorgeous, shoulder length black hair bound up into a little ponytail that bounced when he sat forward after his set. He actually reminded Hunk a little of the guys in those Korean dramas Lance insisted on binge watching on his days off. It didn’t help that his eyes were perpetually narrowed in some kind of sullen pout, the classic look for a drama love interest, or so Lance said.

It also didn’t help that his tank top had slipped a bit, revealing sharp collar bones and the swell of muscles along his back and shoulders and—

Hunk ducked his head quickly, the near eye contact scaring him enough to focus on the flashing screen on his treadmill advertising some kind of hair removal (or was it hair growth?) cream. The couple on the screen flashed brilliantly white artificial smiles as the infomercial played, holding the product up for inspection to the camera.

He didn’t find the will power to look up again until a shadow passed in his peripheral vision and the hiss click of the automatic door opening and closing again echoed through the room and the guy was gone.

 

It was almost a week later before Hunk saw him again. Because of his work schedule, Hunk had been forced to come in at the ungodly hour of 6:00am and fight for free weights with all the 9-5ers. He never saw “Gorgeous Angry Man” on those mornings, but when he showed up at 3:00pm next week, there he was, angrily squinting at the treadmill screen as he ran.

Surprisingly, he did glance up when Hunk walked in, his eyes narrowing over further as he watched Hunk once again set down his stuff and move to a treadmill several over from his.

As if that satisfied it, “Gorgeous Angry Man” returned to glaring at his screen, and that seemed to be it.

A part of Hunk wanted to ask what his problem was, but a bigger part hated confrontation and mostly just wanted the guy to have a better day. He liked to help people, Allura called it a “savior complex” but Hunk didn’t think there was anything wrong with that.

(Lance had hugged him and loudly proclaimed that Hunk could save him any day and Hunk had kind of loved him for it.)

But, all of that was to say, it probably should have surprised absolutely no one that when Hunk walked into the free weight room and saw G.A.M at the same spot, glaring at him through the mirror, he decided to take the bench right next to his, instead of moving to the far side of the room like any sane person would have.

They moved in relative silence, their soft grunts of exertion and the tiny voices of a cable news network the only sounds filling the space.

It was only after a couple reps, when Hunk realized they were each resting at the same time, that he found the courage to speak.

“Hey, I’ve uh…seen you a couple times. I’m new here.”

Hunk stuck his hand out, tentative as the guy turned to him, eyebrows raised before dropping back into his customary glare.

“I’m…uh…my name’s Hunk?”

Hunk’s hand continued to hang in the space between them, sweaty from working out and maybe a little bit of nerves. G.A.M was even more gorgeous up close and personal, definitely K-Drama love interest material.

Eventually, like it cost him every ounce of strength, G.A.M struck his own hand out and took Hunk’s, his eyes now narrowed at their joined hands as they shook.

“Keith.”

Hunk nodded and smiled as Keith finally let his hand go and moved back to his workout. Keith’s hands had been warm and dry, his grip a little on the firm side. Hunk was suddenly incredibly self-conscious about exactly how sweaty his palms had been.

Apparently done with the conversation, Keith had braced one foot on the ground for bent over rows, his muscles bulging with each rep, drawing Hunk’s eye and making heat rush to his cheeks.

Right.

Working out.

He could feel his hands sweating even more now, and wished with all his might that he wouldn’t fumble the dumbbells and drop them on his toes. Whether it worked or not, the rest of his workout went without incident, the two of them moving through the gym now in that strange limbo of knowing someone but not knowing them at all.

Hunk nearly dropped himself when Keith had actually stopped by where he was doing pull ups on his way out.

“Bye…Hunk.”

He barely had a chance to brace himself, eyes moving to take in Keith’s continued look of discomfort with undisguised surprise.

“Good—I mean—Bye! See you…later?”

Hunk could feel himself blushing again, but thankfully, Keith didn’t seem to notice. He just nodded and waved a hand, grabbed his bag, and walked out the door without another word.

“Good job, Hunk. _Really_ …great.”

 

Hunk continued to see Keith at the gym almost every day, well, every day that his schedule allowed.

Every time he saw Keith, he would smile and come work on the machine nearby and Keith would squint and glare for several long moments before nodding as if he had figured something out every time.

On one particular day, Hunk was surprised to see Keith absent at his normal time. He was just starting to get worried when he looked up and nearly screamed. Keith had materialized from out of nowhere at Hunk’s elbow.

“Hey, Hunk.”

“You spoke to me!”

Keith’s eyebrows climbed up his forehead in surprise, giving Hunk the first time to see what his eyes looked like actually open and not glaring at the room, the gym owner, or the roman chair. They were a nice warm brown, and Hunk found himself smiling helplessly because gosh they were cute, too.  

“I speak to you all the time?”

“Yeah, but, never first!”

Hunk was positively beaming now as Keith continued to look more and more bewildered.

“You usually see me first, though. Did you think I wouldn’t talk to you?”

Hunk shrugged and reached out, clasping Keith on the shoulder as his face continued to split in half.

“I dunno, man. It was just nice.”

It was probably a trick of the light, or Hunk would have sworn that Keith was blushing, his eyes shifting to look at anything, anywhere, but at Hunk standing in front of him.

“Yeah, well. You’re a nice guy so…”

And now Hunk was blushing, forced to clear his throat a few times to talk around the embarrassment stopping his vocal chords. He still managed to sound like a choked-out frog anyway when he spoke.

“Thanks, man. You are, too. A nice guy, I mean.”

As Keith started to look increasingly uncomfortable, it only just came to Hunk’s attention that his hand was still clasping Keith’s shoulder, the muscles tense and powerful beneath his grip.

“Sorry!”

He jerked his hand back with a gasp, stepping back and nearly tripping over the barbell he had just been using for deadlifts and forcing Keith to grab onto him to steady him anyway.

His skin burned when Keith let go and he couldn’t shake the memory as they both moved on to their respective routines.

 

They didn’t speak much after that, just acknowledging each other with simple hellos and goodbyes and it was driving Hunk nuts.

He had thought…well… _maybe_ there had been something building over the past month. Sure, Keith had never looked him in the eye, and he was still constantly glaring at him and everyone and everything, but he had started talking more and had blushed, Hunk was sure it was a blush now, when he had touched him.

“Why don’t you just talk to him? You’re a catch! He’d be lucky to have you!”

Lance was sprawled out on their couch, his upper body draped off the side like some version of a contorted head stand except his fingers were wrapped tightly around his phone, waiting for a text back.

“You don’t _understand._ I can’t just…it’s _Keith.”_

Lance looked nonplussed, and honestly, Hunk couldn’t blame him. How could you even begin to _explain_ Keith to someone who had never met him.

Lance’s phone buzzed, his lips curling into that soft smile of his Hunk had taken to seeing a lot recently ever since he had met some mystery guy at a bar a few weeks ago. When he put the phone down again, that same smile was still in place, directed at Hunk now.

“Talk to him, seriously. Talk to him.”

Of course, Lance was right, and it was with a new resolve that Hunk went to the gym the next day and saw Keith. He was squatting a ridiculous amount of weight, his leg muscles bulging and bunching under the strain.

Hunk waited until he racked the bar before moving to his side.

“That’s more than you normally do.”

Keith looked ready to jump out of his skin, his eyes not quiet meeting Hunk’s as he looked him over.

“Yeah, could you—um…would you spot me?”

The skin of Keith’s lower lip turned white around the edges of where his teeth pressed hard into the skin. He looked nervous and Hunk smiled on reflex, reassuring him as he moved to stand behind him.

They worked like that the rest of the hour, spotting each other on the bench press and machines and orbiting around each other like no time or awkwardness had passed. Hunk could tell there was something Keith wanted to say, but something told him not to push it.

It was when they were both finally finished, and Hunk stepped off the treadmill after his cool down to find Keith waiting for him, that they spoke again.

“I’m sorry…about being awkward. I just…I have a hard time around people. But…”

He trailed off and Hunk felt his heart start to race as Keith’s face flushed scarlet.

“ _But_ …I was wondering…if you wanted to go get a smoothie…or coffee…or something…with me, that is.”

“Yes!”

They both jumped, each a little startled by how quickly and loudly Hunk had responded.

“Oh, um great!”

Except Keith was smiling now as he moved to shuffle through his bag and pulled out…a glasses case?

Hunk watched, transfixed, as Keith carefully opened the hinged case to reveal black rimmed frames that he pushed up his nose with practiced ease. When he looked up, he made eye contact with Hunk for the very first time, peering out from behind the lenses with a look of surprised wonder.

“You haven’t been glaring at anyone—”

“Oh wow…you’re cute—”

They both stopped, as if realizing what the other had said and trying to process it at all.

“Glaring? What--?

“You think I’m cute?”

Keith held his hands up, cheeks now nearly purple with embarrassment as Hunk pressed his hand to his mouth in surprise.

“Why did you think I was glaring?”

Now it was Hunk’s turn to refuse to look at him, his eye catching an elderly woman pumping little 5 pound weights with all the determination of an Olympic body builder.

“Well I _thought_ you were glaring, but you’ve just been squinting, haven’t you?”

Realization seemed to dawn as Keith buried his face in his hands, groaning loudly.

“My glasses slip off when I sweat I just—I wasn’t _glaring.”_

Hunk couldn’t help it, the giggles burst out of his mouth so forcefully he had to brace himself on his knees. Keith was _now_ actually glaring at him, the glasses somehow making it even more effective and yet all Hunk could do was laugh because of _course_ the dorky guy who said he was nice and once tripped over a kettlebell and pretended like he hadn’t wasn’t _glaring_ at everyone.

“Are you done?”

Keith was pouting a little, his cheeks were probably permanently stained red at this point and Hunk was maybe sort of a little in love with it.

“You think I’m cute?”

Rolling his eyes, Keith grabbed up his bag and continued to glare at Hunk, and wow was the difference between squinty Keith and glaring Keith incredibly noticeable now that he knew what to look for.

“Obviously. Are we getting a smoothie, or what?”

Hunk was grinning so hard his face actually hurt as he followed Keith out of the door and over to the smoothie place across the street.

(And later, when he picked Keith up for their first date and kissed him gently at the furrowed space between his brows, he was still smiling).


End file.
